Go outside

We are talking about Christian faith and creation this month at church. Last Saturday some of us gathered at a local park and took a hike. Think flat, well marked trails (still got lost), no wild animals, although there were Zika virus warnings posted. There was dog stuff too and I stepped in it. Had I focused on mosquitoes, and getting lost and stepping in stuff, I might have stayed at the trail head and warned others of the dangers that lay ahead. We have this love/hate thing going on with creation. The first settlers in America found the wilderness dark and threatening and peopled with savages. I think Christians still tend to miss the beauty of creation and would rather stand at the edge of the forest and warn others of the dangers. Save yourselves from this wicked world! The Christian message of salvation often seems to be "from" this world. Erik Reece calls it an indoor religion. Seems mostly true as Christians gather behind closed doors on Sundays and vent against the dangers out there in the world. On this past Sunday, we sang This is My Father's World. For some of us our Father's world has gotten steadily smaller. We worry about how much we have accommodated our faith to culture. If the kingdom is here we need to be about demonstrating how people can accommodate themselves to God's world. I don't want an indoor religion. I want to be outside even if it means stepping in stuff some times.